Survey Data
Reg No
50080248
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical
Original Use
Vat hall
In Use As
Store/warehouse
Date
1870 - 1890
Coordinates
314272, 233750
Date Recorded
24/06/2013
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached six-bay two-storey gable-fronted former vat house, built c.1880, now in use as warehouse. Pitched roof with raised barges to front (south) and rear gables with cut granite coping. Metal access deck to west elevation eaves. Yellow brick walls having cut rusticated granite quoins, cut snecked limestone to ground floor, and cut granite string course. Square-headed blind openings having brick infill, over segmental-arched blind openings having brick surrounds and granite sills to ground floor. Round-arched blind openings to front elevation first floor having brick surrounds and infill. Round-arched first floor openings to east elevation having cut granite sills and recent infill. Round-arched first floor openings to west elevation having multiple pane metal pivot windows. Recent square-headed openings to rear, including strip windows to ground floor. Oculi to front and rear gables. Segmental-arched door opening to front elevation having recessed brick surround and timber battened door with louvres above. Elliptical-arched carriage arch to front elevation having brick voussoirs and cut limestone reveals, recent red brick infill with two square-headed door openings. Cut granite bollards. Recent square-headed vehicular entrance to front elevation having concrete lintel, brick reveals and recent metal shutter. Metal access decks at first floor to front and rear elevations.
Appraisal
This building is part of the Guinness Brewery that was founded in 1759 on a four acre site south of Saint James's Gate. It subsequently expanded in all directions, including the construction of this and adjacent vat houses on Rainsford Street, used for storage and maturation of beer. In 1896 the Guinness Brewery had about 150 vats, varying in contents from 200 to 1,700 hogsheads each, in an extensive series of vat houses throughout the brewery. The twentieth-century alterations to the building are testament to its long use and adaption to the changing requirements of the brewery. The use of blind openings provides order to the front elevation, while skilled stonemasonry is evident in the limestone and granite detailing. The building retains its early industrial character.